In lieu of New Year’s resolutions, I’ve decided to instead focus on 4 words that I want to be able to use to define my life at the end of 2009. The idea comes from Carrie McCarty & Danielle LaPorte who wrote this great book, Style Statement: Live by Your Own Design. I picked it up at the end of the summer as a part of my quest to do some self-reflection & just some basic figuring out. Anyways, life got in the way & I really wasn’t in the mood to be too self-reflective, until last week when I picked the book back up & started going through it.

The book walks you through a personal inventory to create a style statement which is kind of like personal branding, I guess. Essentially you come up with 2 words that help define who you are. It’s not meant to restrict or limit you, but rather to get you to look at what you truly value & who you really are. At this point, I’m only about half-way through the exercises, so I don’t know what my style statement is yet. But, I’ve been checking out their website & they have a daily Q&A, and today’s question was “What word describes your desire for 2009?” I did some thinking & was only able to narrow it down to 4; but those 4 actually really define what I want to do this year. (more…)

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (I keep starting this book, but can’t get past chapter 2. I should just give up, but I hate to leave books I buy unread.)

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte (another one that I keep starting & can’t get through. It must have been a bad book buying day when I bought this, because I bought Love Walked In the same day.)

Archetypes for Writers by Jennifer Van Bergen (one of those craft books. Looks interesting. Just haven’t been in the headspace to read it.)

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg (I read her book Open House a while ago & liked it. I’ve been meaning to read something else from her. Noticed this is written in 1st person, so that made it appealing given my current needs–read below.)

The End of the Story by Lydia Davis (half-way through & really liking this. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking to read.)

I’ve just been a slower reader than usual the last couple of months; but a apparently a very prolific book buyer. I don’t know what’s going on. Probably just a phase. Will say I’m really liking the book I’m currently reading. I think part of my reading funk has been because I can’t seem to find exactly what I want. Because my plan is to work on draft #2 in 1st person, I really want to immerse myself in 1st person. But I’m having the hardest time finding books that I want to read. Yes, there are plenty of good books out there written in 1st, but I guess I’m just looking for a certain voice. I keep walking into every bookstore I come across, pulling books off the shelves, & reading the first page. More often than not, it’s not what I’m looking for. But I guess I’m realizing that what I’m looking for is what I’m trying to write. My head wants to hear a certain voice that letting in any others, any that aren’t quite right, is just difficult.

I know what this all means. I need to write my own book.

On that front, the reading of draft #1 is taking longer than I expected. Not because I hate it or anything, I just keep saying I’ll get to it, & I don’t. This is starting to frustrate me. Yes, my procrastination & I might soon come to blows. I want to get started on draft #2, sooner rather than later. So, to get that going, I need to finish reading this & figuring out what I can take from it & what I need to do to make it better the next time around.

So, instead of saying “I plan to…”, I’m going to say: I AM WILL FINISH READING DRAFT #1 BY THE END OF THIS WEEK.

And: I AM WILL WORK ON AN ARTICLE IDEA THAT’S BEEN FLOATING AROUND IN MY HEAD THE LAST COUPLE DAYS.